


What He Holds Dear

by Inkribbon796



Series: Masks and Maladies [128]
Category: Markiplier TV (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Host does the murder, I think it’s whump, Illinois loves the sound of Eric’s heart, Is this whump?, Kidnapping, M/M, Magic, Murder, Scared Illinois, Whump, scared Eric, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29427108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkribbon796/pseuds/Inkribbon796
Summary: Word around the city tends to spread like wildfire. Everyone knows Illinois keeps a lot of secrets. Up until now his lack of a constant weakness has kept those secrets under lock and key. But now he has a fiancé.The Host is a foreboding force in the city with many of the Author’s enemies looking to get revenge. And word spreads fast that the Host is dating a doctor.
Relationships: Author | Host/Dr. Iplier (Markiplier TV), Eric Derekson/Illinois (A Heist with Markiplier)
Series: Masks and Maladies [128]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538131
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	1. Chinks in the Armor

**Author's Note:**

> It’s Valentine’s Day. Instead of doing an all-couples event like I did last year I’ll focus on just two of them.

Word around the city tended to spread like wildfire. Something that the entire city had been silently waiting for.

Illinois had finally gotten a partner who lasted longer than a month.

In the network Illinois was known as  _ “Philly” _ an adrenaline junkie of an enforcer who was infamous as Dark’s right hand in the network.

There were enforcers who had been in the network for decades longer than him who just didn’t have the power that  _ “Philly” _ did.

It wasn’t just that Illinois could get away with stuff, he knew things.

Secrets. Blackmail. Personal information about Dark.

The network knew him as Philly. If you could pay enough he could be convinced to slip some secrets in one of the many fancy Korean restaurants that Dark owned.

But that was the catch. Philly didn’t sell  _ Dark’s _ secrets. And there was never any illusions that Dark didn’t know what the enforcer told people.

Needless to say, everyone wanted to get at those secrets. Businessmen, deep web dealers, politicians, police, even the heroes.

Unfortunately for those individuals Illinois didn’t have very many weaknesses. His only known family was Dark and the rest of his questionably sane adopted relatives that lived in the Manor.

The only hitch in that secrecy armor was that Illinois loved to travel, and loved to have travel partners. A problem that everyone thought would eventually lead to those secrets finally being exposed.

Then those travel partners started dying. People thought that it was Philly or Dark killing people before they could talk. That once the enforcer no longer had a need for them, they were discretely disposed of.

But after the third death, Illinois’s grief was so apparent that no one doubted that the young man was not to immediately blame. His luck just killed people around him to spare himself.

Involuntary. Immediate.

Now that was changing. Eric Derekson had a bad luck superpower. The complete opposite of Illinois’s gift. They balanced each other out perfectly.

Illinois had once bumped his head on a car door. Eric had once broken a nail.

But that was nothing, a paltry drop in the bucket to what usually happened around them. And everyone who saw the two together knew that Illinois was absolutely smitten with the boy.

Unfortunately that was the problem because in the criminal network you were only as invincible as your weakest link.

And now Illinois’s had a name: Eric Derekson.  
  


As for the Entity’s Author, the young man had disappeared. He had been seen in Dark’s main warehouse one day, and then he and the Entity’s secretary never showed up again.

The Author had enemies, had almost as many enemies as Dark or Wilford themselves did. Enemies accrued by the young teen’s unparalleled sadism and penchant for writing people he didn’t like to disappear into his books. Even before his first official day in the network, the young man had been accruing enemies and power and it was clear and Dark wouldn’t . . . or rather  _ could not _ stop him.

When he had  _ “disappeared” _ the Host had been quick to capitalize on that fear the Author had gained. He needed to keep that going because if they didn’t fear him they would attack him.

Something the Host had to constantly maintain, because he had secret identities to protect. A doctor to make sure the criminal underworld never dared to touch.

But as with all things, people would try and push their boundaries. To poke at dragons they thought were much weaker and smaller than they actually were.


	2. Disaster Date Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for kidnapping, and a very scared Eric.

Eric was having a normal day. It was Valentine’s Day and Illinois had promised Eric an amazing dinner.

Which to Eric. Illinois could have taken him to a fast food restaurant in sweats and Eric would have thought it was the most fancy thing in the world.

But he’d been given a suit, one that didn’t quite fit him but he had put it on. Illinois took him to a really nice Mexican restaurant and Eric felt so nervous and out of place, and thought that Illinois looked so amazingly handsome.

Currently his only real problem was that he was so enamored by Illinois just being there that all he was contributing to the conversation was smiling and nodding.

But eventually he slipped off to go to the bathroom. A combination of actually needing to go and the anxious claustrophobia of other people in the room.

So he walked into the bathroom and while he was washing his hands, noticing that some dirt had gotten into his nail, he was hit in the back of the head by some force and in an instant he was out.

The next time Eric came to, he had a minor headache blooming in his head. He felt disoriented and scared. Everything was black and in that fear, his hands started making little explosions. Since they were tied behind the chair he was sitting on, his arms and back bloomed with pain.

And he wasn’t the only one.

“Fuck! Fuck! Stop!” In Eric’s panic he didn’t recognize the voice. It was Dr. Iplier. He was tied back-to-back with Eric. The young man’s hands almost on top of the Doctor’s arms. Iplier’s eyes were similarly blindfolded.

A strong smell was placed almost right underneath Eric’s nose and as he inhaled the substance it calmed him down, magically drugging him so he stopped freaking out.

“Hey kid,” Iplier tried to help. “It’s me, Iplier, you okay?”

“Hmmmm,” was Eric’s only response.

Iplier gently tapped Eric’s hands before gently taking it. Eric’s hand felt dangerously warm. But he was calmer — by force — he couldn’t keep hurting the doctor.

“Who’s there?” Iplier demanded. “I know someone’s there! What did you do to him?”

“He’s merely calmed with a very mild sedative,” a voice told him. “You’re welcome.”

Iplier tried to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. It sounded distorted.

“Look, I hate the Author but this is dangerous, you fuckers are all crazy. If we don’t clear out fast enough.” One of the voices, a deeper one, sounded angry.

“All we need is information,” another voice, slightly lighter but no less determined. “That’s the important part.”

“I’m not saving you if this goes tits up,” the mobster grumbled and walked over to Dr. Iplier. A smile on his face.

“Okay lover boy, let’s make this easier for all of us,” the mobster grinned and grabbed Iplier by the hair roughly, craning his head up. “We’ve got some questions. You’re the old bastard fucking that freak of nature aren’t you?”

“That’s none of your business,” Iplier spat.

Iplier got punched in the face for that, making Eric whimper in fear at the sound of Iplier getting hurt. He was trying to fight the haze over his mind but it felt like a weighted blanket he couldn’t kick off.

“Don’t be a smartass,” the mobster snarled. “Everyone knows who you are. You’ve shacked up with that sadistic freak.”

“He’s not who you think he is,” Iplier insisted.

“Yeah I bet he’s a real sweetheart,” the mobster patronized. “A Libra who likes to take long walks on the beach.”

Iplier gritted his teeth and fought the urge to sarcastically remark that Host wasn’t a Libra.

“If you could ask the real questions, we would appreciate it,” the second voice ordered.

“I could shoot you and I would probably get away with it,” the mobster snapped.

“We outnumber you right now, don’t try it.”

At that comment, Iplier tried to listen for another person but there were no signs to let him know if the person was bluffing or not.

“Fine,” the mobster snapped. “To hell with you and your stupid questions. Is the Entity’s body dead?”

“What?” Iplier asked.

He was punched in the face again, this time breaking his nose and making him scream in pain and anger.

“The Entity,” the mobster growled. “Is he dead?”

“How should I know?” Iplier snapped. “I’m not that asshole’s doctor.”

The mobster opened his mouth to speak, which is precisely when an aluminum bat made contact with the back of his skull. Cracking the man’s skull and killing him instantly.

Then the Host glared at the only other occupant in the room, a demon hunter in a mask. The hunter took a fearful step back at the sight of the blood running down from the Host’s face and the narrations that left them as metaphorically bare as a newborn, and felt the muzzle of a handgun pressed against the back of their head.

“Our turn for questions, asshat,” Illinois threatened.

“Ills?” Eric was semi-roused from his haze.

Illinois glanced at him, “Just taking out the trash,  _ dulcito _ .”

“Illy,” Eric pleaded, starting to cry and limply started to struggle in his chair.

“Illinois should tend to his fiancé,” the Host told him and with a signal from the Host the Entity dragged the hunter through and into the Void for a nice, long interrogation. The hunter’s scream echoing in the room as they were violently and painfully dragged in.

Illinois raced over to Eric, waiting for the Host to thoroughly clean up the blood and evidence of death from the mobster before lifting his blindfold. “Eric,  _ dulcito, _ honey. I’m here now. Don’t worry I’m here.

With a few, careful words the blindfolds and binding disappeared and Iplier blinked in disorientation.

As delicately the Host could he used his words to reset the doctor’s nose, setting it back to normal. Then with a few more words all the people in the room disappeared from it and suddenly appeared on the back balcony of the Manor.

Eric and Iplier were sitting on the comfiest seats as their partners stood in front of them. Illinois rushed back in to comfort Eric as the Host hovered around Dr. Iplier.

“I’m so sorry I let them take you  _ dulcito, _ can you ever forgive me?” Illinois begged desperately as he frantically kissed Eric’s hands, almost begging wordlessly for permission to move further up his arm. “Did any of them touch you?”

“I-I’m fine,” Eric was hiccupping through his sobs.

“Does the Host’s doctor have any other injuries?” The Host asked. “The Host regrets not being able to remove the assailants sooner.”

“I,” Dr. Iplier paused. He knew that the two of them had killed his assailants. Iplier knew it, and the Host knew it. “I’m fine.”

“Is the Host’s doctor sure?” The Host asked.

Unsure of what would actually leave his mouth, he nodded.

The seer let out a controlled sigh, “The Host could not bear it if his doctor was grievously hurt for something the Author had done.”

Iplier planned to say something reassuring, that killing people who meant to do him and Eric serious harm didn’t exactly qualify as a heinous act. That it was self defense. But at that exact moment Dark stepped through, his ringing shrill and his usually greyed out effect even more saturated.

“I have some more names, we’ll discuss the details later,” Dark promised and pulled out a small wooden case and passed it to Illinois. “I have business to attend to, I’ll be with Google if anyone needs to speak with me.”

“Alright,” Illinois said, noticing that Eric was curing protectively into him.

Then Dark was gone, heading through the balcony door and disappearing into the house. Leaving Illinois and Host with their partners.

Illinois sat next to Eric and popped open the box to find two little pins inside. Both of them were silver quill pins.

The adventurer took one of them out and offered it, pleading, “Eric, I’m going to make sure no one can hurt you again.”

Eric nodded, but Iplier spoke up. “What are those? What do they do? And why should we put on anything Dark gives us?”

Looking conflicted, Eric stared at the quill, and then at Illinois. Illinois looked back at Iplier. “They’re the same as our trackers except Host and I can track them. I guess yours is mostly cosmetic, Ip.”

“And that has your aura?” Iplier questioned. “Won’t that allow Dark to teleport to us?”

“Ours allow him to know where we are, his aura does the rest,” Illinois admitted. “If he feels one of us going through an anti-magic barrier like that one you all have down at the station, he’ll go to the other side of the field and figure out how badly he needs to intervene. In your base, I think the two of you should be safe. No intervention needed.”

“O-Okay,” Eric allowed, uncertain. He let Illinois replace the little star he usually wore with the quill. The adventurer held the star out to the Host.

The star disappeared without the Host needing to take it. Only taking a couple words to accomplish. Illinois delicately kissed Eric on the cheek. “I thought for a bit that when we’d find you again, my luck would have run out. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“The Host can return Dr. Iplier to his hospital, or would he rather the Host take him back home?”

“The hospital, everyone’s probably worried about where I went,” Iplier sighed.

“As the doctor wishes,” the Host’s eyes bleed a bit more and the case Dark had given Illinois in the seer’s hand. The two men gone from the balcony.

It left Illinois and Eric cuddled up together on the balcony. Eric was happy to see Illinois again, and Illinois happy to just have Eric alive. That he was still holding someone who was breathing and their heart was beating.

They wound up on the couch in the living room. Illinois calming down to the gentle sound of Eric’s still beating heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Illinois loves the sounds of his partners’ heartbeats. I’ll give you one guess as to why.


End file.
